Madeeha Syed

Transgender people are a significant part of our society and it is important to educate ourselves on their needs and struggles. Knowing which terms to use to correctly refer to them can be the first step you take.

A Guide to the Various Transgender-Related Terms

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The only popular gender identities in the past were male, female, and transgender. Now genderqueer has introduced other guide terms to understand.

A Guide To The Various Transgender-Related Terms

Overview

<p>The term &lsquo;transgender&rsquo; or &lsquo;trans&rsquo; includes all people whose gender identity and expression is not the same as the gender they were assigned at birth. It can include people who are non-binary or gender-queer or identify with a third gender or sex.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The term transgender replaced the term transsexual in the late 1960s, which is now largely outdated unless someone specifically wants to claim it. In a much broader definition, it has been used to include transvestites, a term popularised in the 1970s, which is now considered derogatory. This signifies people who cross-dress. All this is why the term transgender is referred to as an umbrella term used to refer to anyone with diverse gender identity.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p>It&rsquo;s important here to note that this isn&rsquo;t the same as being intersex which refers more to a person&rsquo;s physical sexual characteristics rather than their internal sense of gender identity (gender vs sex). Many intersex people may and can choose to identify as trans however.&nbsp;</p>

<p>A common misconception we see is that this has something to do with people&rsquo;s sexual orientation. This, however, is not true. Transgender people can belong to any sexual orientation, from straight (heterosexual) to gay (homosexual) to bisexual or asexual.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p>Compared to this, cisgender is a term used for people who feel consistent with their assigned gender.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Adoption of and preference for western terms for referring to trans people has led to some of the local context being muddled therefore we will try to cover both here.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

Transgender-Related Terms

<h5><strong>Trans-Man Or Trans-Woman</strong></h5>

<p>A trans-man is someone who was assigned as female at birth but now identifies as a man. Similarly, a trans-woman is someone who was assigned as male at birth and now identifies as a female.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h5><strong>Khwajasirah</strong></h5>

<p>This is a term that is often used interchangeably for transgender people but most people belonging to the community don&rsquo;t consider it an exact translation. This is due to the history and local context attached to the term.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The resurgence of the term in the past 10 years has been due to the nostalgia about the pre-colonial treatment of non-conforming people. It is not, however, an exact or even near substitute for transgender and within the community it is only used to refer to those with &ldquo;a feminine soul born in a male body&rdquo;. This can change amongst different sub-communities as well.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p>It&rsquo;s noteworthy that these communities find the term khwajasirah more respectful than any other local term when outsiders are referring to them. Another useful term is moorat, also considered respectable and is a combination of terms mard [man] and aurat [woman].&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h4><strong>Hijra Or Khusra</strong></h4>

<p>This is okay to use within the community but outsiders using it is considered derogatory at best.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h5><strong>They/Them</strong></h5>

<p>These are gender-neutral pronouns that many people in the transgender community prefer to be referred with. You can also use them before you are sure or can confirm what specific pronouns someone prefers.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h5><strong>Gender Identity</strong></h5>

<p>This is a person&rsquo;s own internal sense of whether they are a male or a female or neither. This has nothing to do with their secondary sexual characteristics. Locally, this is referred to as rooh which translate to &lsquo;soul&rsquo; in English. For instance, for a trans-woman you can say &ldquo;she has a feminine soul rooh.&rdquo;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h5><strong>Gender Expression</strong></h5>

<p>This is how a person lets the world at large know about their gender identity. Some of the ways this can be done is via clothing, manner of speaking, behaviour, hairstyles, body modifications and jewellery etc.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h5><strong>Gender Binary</strong></h5>

<p>This is the practice of classifying people into either male or female category depending on their external genitalia. This fails to account for the &lsquo;lived&rsquo; experiences with regards to gender and hampers lives and social mobility of non-conforming folks.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This is largely a Western concept and South Asia, like many other ancient cultures, doesn&rsquo;t have a long-standing history of subscribing to this. It is only after the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 enacted by the British in the subcontinent that we saw behaviours and conversation changing about transgender people. This erased a large part of the history of gender diversity we previously observed in the subcontinent.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h5><strong>Non-Binary Or Gender-Queer</strong></h5>

<p>This is a term used by people to identify as someone who doesn&rsquo;t conform to the gender binary. Although the term does fall under the umbrella, most non-binary people don&rsquo;t consider themselves as transgender.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h5><strong>Gender Dysphoria</strong></h5>

<p>According to the DSM-V this is the discomfort or distress one feels when they feel there is disconnect between their gender identity and the sex they were assigned at birth. This previously used to be called &ldquo;gender identity disorder&rdquo; and is largely problematic for entailing that diverse gender identity is an actual medical condition or disorder.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Trans communities worldwide have called to stop considering diverse gender identities as a pathology and, as of January 2022, WHO refers to this as &ldquo;gender incongruence&rdquo; while no longer considering it a mental illness.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h5><strong>Transgender Congruence</strong></h5>

<p>This is the degree to which transgender people feel at peace and comfort with their gender identity and expression.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h5><strong>Transitioning</strong></h5>

<p>This can be medical, cosmetic or simply social. This includes hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) and gender-reassignment surgery, both of which have been proven to relieve gender dysphoria as well. Not everyone chooses to or can afford to go through these procedures however. In local context, the act of castration is also called nirbahan or narbhan.&nbsp;</p>

<p>One thing to note here is that the internal hierarchies of transgender communities are based on this process and this has immense spiritual importance behind it as well.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h5><strong>Passing</strong></h5>

<p>This is a term used for those who belong to diverse gender identities but can pass as cisgender or heterosexual due to either transitioning or other measures. This is not a goal or aspired to by many members of the community and is also not possible to achieve for most people.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

Bottom Line

<p>Despite the topic being much talked about globally and many people leaning towards acceptance and assimilation, locally we see a trend of bigotry towards transgender people in most spheres.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act was enacted in 2018 by the parliament and claims to safeguard the rights of transgender people and to legally recognise them and provide them equality. Similarly, on International Human Rights Day last year, Nadra launched a campaign called &ldquo;Trans rights are human rights&rdquo; that conducted remedial training of Nadra employees to sensitise them towards transgender rights and issues. This was done to encourage more trans people to register as citizens of Pakistan and have their own CNIC. In this regard, chairman Nadra conducted meetings with transgender people from different parts of the country, issued mobile registration vans (MRVS) and coordinated with several other government bodies to ensure this is carried out smoothly. A legal identity empowers people and Nadra itself took the first step where it also started employing transgender people according to their abilities and qualifications.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p>Despite such measures, we see that in our day-to-day life many people will exhibit a less-than-savoury attitude towards trans people. This needs to be mitigated and can only be done via education and exposure. Transgender people also need to be made aware of their legal rights in order to empower them to take a stand against any kind of discrimination.&nbsp;</p>